PARAGRAPHS 

ON 

THRIFT 


FRANK  C.   MORTIMER 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


Paragraphs  on  Thrift 


Cop>Tight.  1916,  by 

The  Bankers  Publishing  Co. 

New  York 


First  Edition.  April,  1916 
Second  Edition,  March,  1917 
Third  Edition,  November,  1920 


PARAGRAPHS 

ON 

THRIFT 


BY 

FRANK  C.  MORTIMER 

Author  of  "The  Investment  of  Trust  Funds,' 
"The  School  Savings  System,"  Etc. 


NEW  YORK 
THE  BANKERS  PUBLISHING  CO. 

19  2  0 


To 

My  Son 

WENDELL 


1  mm28 


PARAGRAPHS 
ON    THRIFT 


MERICANS  are  re- 
garded by  some  of  the 
older  nations  as  a 
"'  people  of  extravagant 
habits.  It  has  been  said  that 
articles  which  properly  should 
be  classed  as  luxuries  are  de- 
manded as  necessaries;  that 
the  cloud  of  debt  lowers  over 
homes  that  should  be  bask- 
ing in  the  sunshine  of  finan- 
cial independence. 

Men  of  affairs  who  take 
note  of  what  is  going  on 
about  them  are  able  to  judge 


how  far  this  is  true,  and  to 
gauge  the  tendency  to  spend 
more  than  is  earned,  noting 
the  encouragement  which  is 
held  out  for  the  man  steadily 
employed  to  live  beyond  his 
income.       ^       ^ 

Whatever  basis  there  may 
be  for  such  criticism  in  the 
present,  an  appeal  to  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  will  show 
that  no  such  reproach 
attached  to  our  forebears. 

The  success  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  has  been  brought 
about  by  the  exercise  of 
energy,  thrift,  level  -  headed 
management. 


through    hardship   and 

i,   on  the  frontier  and  in 

a   cities,    that   which   has 

been  gathered  and  saved  has 

become  the  foundation  of  all 

our  greatness  as  a  nation. 

^     ^ 

For  a  people  as  practical 
as  we  are,  the  indifference 
shown  towards  saving  in 
small  things  is  significant.  It 
points  to  the  fact  that  our 
prosperity,  our  boundless  nat- 
ural resources  and  the  count- 
less opportunities  for  making 
money  have  lulled  us  into  a 
feeling  of  false  security.  The 
future  seems  so  assured  that 
it  appears  hardly  worth  while 


to  stint  ourselves  in  the 
present;  but  this  is  the  gam- 
bler's attitude  toward  life, 
and  education,  drawing  upon 
the  wisdom  of  experience, 
should  furnish  the  corrective. 
q  ^ 
There  is  one  element  that 
makes  for  a  rounded  and  suc- 
cessful life  that  is  but  imper- 
fectly realized.  Voluntary 
self-control  is  so  important  a 
factor  in  the  economic,  the 
political  and  the  moral  life  of 
the  individual  that  no  train- 
ing of  the  head  or  of  the 
hand  can  be  considered  suc- 
cessful which  fails  to  take  it 
into  account. 


Many  a  brilliant  intellect 
has  made  shipwreck  of  life 
because  of  the  lack  of  train- 
ing in  this  most  essential  ele- 
ment in  character — thrift; 
while  many  a  man  of  medi- 
ocre ability  has  made  himself 
rich  and  influential  largely 
because  of  his  tendency  to 
conserve  his  earnings. 


Thrift  does  not  come  at 
our  beck  and  call,  nor  can  it 
be  slipped  on  or  off*  like  an 
old  coat.  It  is  established  by 
example  rather  than  by 
theory;  by  practice  rather 
than  precept. 


Thrift,  to  become  a  fixed 
habit,  must  be  practiced  with 
regularity  and  be  given  an 
opportunity  for  exercise  over 
an  appreciable  length  of  time. 
And  unless  it  becomes  fixed 
as  a  habit  it  is  of  compara- 
tively little  value.  Spas- 
modic saving,  followed  by 
spasmodic  extravagance, 
makes  for  ruin  as  surely  as 
habitual  improvidence. 

q       q 

Dreaming  of  past  tri- 
umphs is  not  going  to  bring 
future  success. 


10 


Great  as  is  the  value  of 
thrift  from  the  point  of  view 
of  economics,  yet  its  value  is 
not  limited  wholly  to  that 
field.  The  training  afforded 
by  its  practice  calls  for  the 
exercise  of  qualities  that  are 
predominantly  moral  in 
character.  Thrift  means  self- 
control.  It  means  self- 
mastery.  It  means  that  we 
must  learn  to  forego  imme- 
diate pleasure  for  the  sake  of 
some  more  distant  good. 

q     ^ 

Thrift  prompts  to  industry 
and  encourages  self-reliance. 


11 


The  dollar  that  comes  from 
eifort,  physical  or  mental,  the 
dollar  that  is  stored  up  for 
timely  use,  is  more  precious 
and  helpful  to  the  owner  than 
double  the  amount  gained 
through  gift,  inheritance  or 
speculation. 


Experience  teaches  that 
success  in  life  depends  not  so 
much  on  the  abihty  to  earn 
money  as  on  the  ability  to  save 
a  portion  of  one's  earnings. 


12 


One  of  the  most  glaring 
defects  of  our  present  educa- 
tional system,  considered  as  a 
means  of  preparation  for  life's 
work,  is  the  lack  of  any  gen- 
eral and  systematic  training 
in  the  practice  of  thrift. 


q 


Idleness  means  degeneracy 
and  decay.  It  is  contrary  to 
the  lessons  of  nature,  con- 
trary to  the  teachings  of  our 
fathers  and  contrary  to  the 
great  scheme  of  civilization. 


13 


The  possession  of  a  bank 
account  often  acts  as  a  power- 
ful and  direct  stimulus  to  in- 
dustry. Children  who  have 
watched  their  savings  accu- 
mulate are  in  many  instances 
spurred  on  to  augment  them 
through  independent  effort. 
Boys  have  been  known  to 
employ  part  of  their  spare 
time  in  little  industrial  out- 
of-doors  enterprises  that  were 
not  only  remunerative  but 
healthful   and   educative   as 

School  savings  banks  were 
instituted  in  France  two  gen- 
erations ago.     The  well- 

14 


known  thrift  of  the  French 
people  has  resulted,  in  part, 
from  the  early  training  of 
her  school  children  in  habits 
of  frugality. 

Organized  effort  in  behalf 
of  thrift  is  perhaps  more 
needed  just  now  than  at  any 
previous  stage  of  our  history. 

What  does  it  profit  a  man 
to  be  master  of  seven  lan- 
guages or  jack  of  half  a  dozen 
trades,  if  he  lose  all  his  sub- 
stance through  extravagant 
habits  that  might  have 
been  checked  or  eliminated 
altogether  ? 

IS 


The  habitual  spendthrift  is 
a  menace  to  the  community 
and  to  the  nation;  the  careful 
citizen,  guided  by  a  sense  of 
the  true  value  of  property,  is 
a  safeguard  to  our  institu- 
tions. Habits  of  extrava- 
gance tend  to  disrupt  the 
family,  the  community,  the 
nation. 


We  should  place  in  the 
hands  of  every  teacher  and 
pupil  a  new  text-book,  the 
keynote  of  which  should 
be  thrift. 


16 


Make  thrift  fashionable 
once  more.  Restore  this  nor- 
mal attribute  of  respectable 
independence  to  its  rightful 
place  in  the  esteem  of  our 
world  of  society  as  well  as 
business. 


This  science  of  thrift 
ought  to  be  taught  in  every 
school,  in  every  city  and 
countryside. 


Money  has  an  earning 
power,  just  as  an  individual 
has,  only  in  a  diiFerent  way. 


17 


The  practice  of  thrift  deals 
not  only  with  the  present, 
but  it  affects  very  materially 
the  social  fabric  of  the  future. 
It  will  affect  in  great  measure 
the  civilization  and  the  moral 
fibre  of  the  nation.  It  will 
assist  those  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances to  mend  their 
fortunes  and  help  to  bring 
them  to  a  realization  of  the 
dignity  which  springs  from 
independence  founded  on  the 
basis  of  a  solvent  estate. 


The  man  who  has  the 
most  time  to  spare  frequently 
makes  the  least  improvement 
of  it. 

18 


Frugality  does  not  always 
hold  sway  in  the  home  and 
in  such  cases  the  school  must 
supplement  the  fireside. 
From  this  combination  shall 
come  prosperous,  self-sustain- 
ing men  and  women. 


Now,  as  of  old,  fore- 
thought and  frugality  are  the 
safest  and  best  guides  for 
human  well-being. 


In  drinking  the  health  of 
others,  you  are  injuring 
your  own. 

19 


Educators  should  awaken 
the  mind  of  the  child  to  the 
important  truths  of  thrift  and 
show  the  inevitably  evil  con- 
sequences of  improvidence 
and  place  a  bulwark  against 
future  misfortune.  These 
precepts  would  have  a  lasting 
and  beneiicial  effect  on  the 
career  of  the  pupil,  helping 
to  develop  useful  citizenship. 


fl 


The  only  provision  some 
people  make  for  a  rainy 
day  is  to  acquire  another's 
umbrella. 


20 


With  a  systematic  teach- 
ing of  thrift,  we  would  find 
that  the  young  men  and 
women  graduated  from  our 
schools  would  be,  not  depend- 
ent, but  dependable  men  and 
women,  who  would  be  made 
into  sterling  citizens  with 
full  cognizance  of  the  value 
of  money  and  its  earning 
power. 


Don't  brag  about  where 
you  stand— don't  stand;  go 
ahead. 


21 


The  tendency  to  spend 
more  than  is  earned  is  en- 
couraged on  every  side 
through  tempting  offers  of 
credit.  The  man  steadily 
employed  is  thus  often  in- 
duced to  live  beyond  his 
income. 

The  cultivation  of  thrift 
is  not  to  be  reckoned  wholly 
in  terms  of  economics.  The 
steadiness,  the  industry,  the 
sobriety,  the  respect  for  prop- 
erty, which  are  fostered 
among  thrifty  and  frugal 
people,  are  political  virtues 
that  make  for  stability  and 
permanence  of  government. 


1886S 


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